HTML Lang Attribute Checker
Check the lang attribute on <html> — present, valid BCP 47, and consistent with xml:lang.
- 100% free
- No sign-up
- No limits
- Instant results
What is HTML Lang Attribute Checker?
The lang attribute on the <html> element declares what language a page is written in, and it is one line that almost every audit flags and almost nobody thinks about.
A screen reader uses it to choose a voice and pronunciation: without it, a French page may be read aloud with English phonetics, which is close to unusable. Browsers use it for hyphenation and for offering translation. The value has to be a BCP 47 language tag — "en", "en-GB", "pt-BR", "zh-Hant-TW" — and the most common mistake is writing the language out in full, because lang="english" looks right and matches nothing.
How to use HTML Lang Attribute Checker
- 1
Fetch or paste
Enter a URL, or paste the opening <html> tag on its own.
- 2
Check it exists
A missing attribute is the common case and the one that actually affects people.
- 3
Check the value is a code, not a word
"en" is valid, "english" is not.
- 4
Use a region only when it matters
"en" is fine for most sites. "en-GB" is worth it when spelling or currency differs meaningfully from "en-US".
Everything this tool
does for you
- BCP 47 validation, including script and region subtags
- Detects a missing or empty attribute
- lang vs xml:lang consistency check
- Explains the accessibility impact
- Reads a live URL or pasted HTML
- Free, no signup, no daily limit
Related free tools
Frequently asked questions
This tool fixed one thing.
Now fix the whole site.
Our scanner runs 240+ checks across 10 audit areas, ranks every issue by the score points it costs, and hands you the code to paste.
Run a free audit- Validates the tag against the BCP 47 shape
- Catches "english" and other invalid values
- Checks lang against xml:lang
- Explains what a screen reader does without it
- Free, no account, no daily limit